Up to 21 people are reported to have been killed when a high-speed train derailed and collided with another train in southern Spain on Sunday. The collision pushed the second train off the tracks.
According to Reuters, the accident happened near the city of Adamuz in the province of Cordoba.
Police have so far confirmed the death of 21 people, state broadcaster Television Espanola said 100 people were injured, 25 seriously, the report added.
Among the dead was the driver of one of the trains traveling from Madrid to Huelva, the television added.
Alleged footage of a high-speed train derailment showed passengers waiting to be evacuated in Adamuz, Córdoba, Spain.
What exactly happened
“The train Iryo 6189 Malaga – (to Madrid) derailed from the track at Adamuz and hit the adjacent track. The train (Madrid) to Huelva, which was traveling on the adjacent track, also derailed,” Adif, which operates the rail network, said in a post on social media.
Adif said the accident occurred at 6:40 p.m. (1740 GMT), about 10 minutes after the Iryo train left Cordoba for Madrid.
Iryo is a private railway operator, majority-owned by the Italian state-controlled railway concern Ferrovie dello Stato.
It was a Freccia 1000 train traveling between Malaga and Madrid, a Ferrovie dello Stato spokesman said.
The company said in a statement that it deeply regrets what happened and has activated all emergency protocols to work closely with the relevant authorities to resolve the situation.
The second train was operated by Renfe, which also did not respond to a request for comment.
Adif has suspended all rail connections between Madrid and Andalusia.
Scary scenes
The Iryo train had more than 300 passengers on board, while the Renfe train had around 100, Reuters reported.
Paco Carmona, Cordoba’s fire chief, told TVE that the first train heading to Madrid from Malaga had been evacuated. But the carriages of the second train were badly damaged, he said, with twisted metal and seats.
“There are still people trapped. We don’t know how many people have died and the operation is focused on getting people out of areas that are very narrow,” he said.
“We have to remove the bodies to get to everyone who is still alive. It’s proving to be a complicated task,” he added.
‘Very serious’
Transport Minister Oscar Puente said he was monitoring the events from the headquarters of rail operator Adif in Madrid.
“The latest information is very serious,” he wrote on X. “The impact was terrible, it caused the first two carriages of the Renfe train to be thrown off the track. The number of victims cannot be confirmed at this time. The most important thing now is to help the victims.”
The mayor of Adamuz, Rafael Moreno, told the newspaper El Pais that he was among the first to arrive at the scene of the accident, along with local police, and saw what he believed to be a badly torn body a few meters from the crash site.
“The scene is terrible,” he said. “I don’t think they were on the same track, but it’s not clear. Now the mayors and residents of the area are focusing on helping the passengers.”
He calls the medics
Images on local television showed a reception center set up for travelers in the town of Adamuz, population 5,000, with locals coming and going with food and blankets in overnight temperatures of around 42 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius).
A woman named Carmen posted on X that she was on board the Iryo train to Madrid. “Ten minutes after leaving (from Cordoba), the train started shaking a lot and derailed from bus 6 behind us. The lights went out.”
Footage posted by another passenger on the Iryo train, also on X, showed Iryo staff in fluorescent jackets instructing passengers to stay in their seats in darkened carriages and those with first aid training to keep an eye on fellow passengers. He also urged people to keep their cell phone batteries charged so they can use their flashlights when they go out.
Salvador Jimenez, a journalist for RTVE who was aboard the Iryo train, shared images showing the rear carriage of the train lying on its side, with evacuated passengers sitting on the side of the carriage facing up.
Jimenez told TVE by phone next to the stricken trains that passengers used emergency hammers to break windows and climb out and saw two people being carried out of the overturned cars on stretchers.
“There is some uncertainty when we will get to Madrid, where we will spend the night, we have not yet received any message from the train company,” Reuters quoted him as saying. “It is very cold, but we are here.
(With inputs from Reuters)